Talk of the town : Use of language in Hong Kong
【明報專訊】Most people in Hong Kong have good Cantonese proficiency. According to a report released by the Census and Statistics Department in 2020, 87.7% of citizens perceived themselves as having good or very good proficiency in Cantonese. Only 4.2% of them had no knowledge or "not so good" proficiency in Cantonese.
Increasing population speaking Mandarin as mother tongue
2.3% of the population speak Mandarin as their usual habitual language, according to the result of the 2021 Population Census. Compared to 1.4% in 2011 and 1.9% in 2016, there is a significant increase in the population who speak Mandarin as the usual spoken language. However, as most people are multilingual, the statistics do not necessarily suggest a tendency of an increasing use of Mandarin in Hong Kong.
■Game
Matching game. (See the picture 4)
(Answer on next text)
■Grammar booster
For the sake of
In order to help
e.g. I will stay at home for the sake of my mother.
■Gear up
28% of the citizens speak Mandarin as their mother tongue. (True/ False)
(Answer on next text)
■Glossary
proficiency (n) 熟練度
perceive (v) 視為／認為
relatively (adj) 相對地
multilingual(adj) 說多種語言的
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[Smarties' Power English 第356期]
